Warriors: A New Generation
by horse.whisperer96
Summary: Its been years since the peace resettled.All clans are at peace-until something happens and the wars begin again. Now no one knows who to trust and even the peace at the Gatherings is frail. What will happen?
1. The Naming Ceremony

"C'mon slow poke! The ceremony is about the start!" hissed a small she-cat, barely six moons old, with silvery gray fur and excited amber eyes. She was practically leaping with her excitement as she waited for her brother, a black tom with bright yellow eyes, to get to the place where she waited.

"I'm coming!" he mewed huffily.

"Not fast enough," she meowed with a frown. "Come on! Or maybe Morningstar won't make us apprentices!" The little black kit hurried up at these words and they reached the area where the rest of their clan, ThunderClan, sat before their leader and deputy, Morningstar and Stormfur. Both looked serious but kind.

"I say these words before StarClan that the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice. The newest apprentices of ThunderClan are Mistypaw, formerly known as Mistykit, and Ashpaw, formerly known as Ashkit!" Morningstar meowed in her kind but serious voice. The golden she-cat looked at Oakfur, a large brown tabby tom, and said, "Oakfur will be Mistypaw's mentor, and is being trusted with teaching her all he knows." Oakfur nodded and stepped forward. Mistypaw jumped up and ran to touch noses with her new mentor. They did so and Mistypaw took a seat next to Oakfur, though he didn't look entirely thrilled about it.

"Moonfur will be Ashpaw's mentor and is trusted to teach him all he has learned," Morningstar continued. Ashpaw got to his feet and slowly walked, eyes on the ground, over to Moonfur. He reached her and, to his dismay, tripped and slammed his nose into Moonfur's then fell hard on the ground. There was a moment of awkward silence where a few cats stifled a laugh. Ashpaw got quickly to his feet and sat by Moonfur, looked extremely embarrassed.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine," Moonfur murmured to him in a low purr. Ashpaw smiled at her.

"Join me in welcoming our two newest apprentices!" Morningstar finished in a loud meow. Yowls of excitement and happiness issued from all the clan members. A chanting of "Ashpaw! Mistypaw! Ashpaw! Mistypaw!" began and Ashpaw soon regained his courage. His sister wandered over to him with the biggest grin he'd ever seen.

"We did it!" she yowled joyously.

"Yeah, I guess so. We still have to go through being apprentices," Ashpaw said.

"Don't be such a downer," Mistypaw teased her brother.

"Mistypaw, be kind to your brother," came their mother's voice from behind Mistypaw. She jumped about a foot in the air and turned around. Bramblenose was smiling at her kits and glowing with pride.

"Sorry, mother," mewed Mistypaw quietly.

Bramblenose licked Mistypaw's head affectionately. "Go and get some food. Then you can settle into the apprentice den!" she told them, turning and leaving them.

Mistypaw didn't hesitate in the least bit at running off towards the fresh-kill pile. Ashpaw waited a few moments, glancing up at Moonfur who was still beside him. "Go ahead, have fun. We can begin training tomorrow," she said kindly. Ashpaw smiled.

"Thank you, Moonfur," he purred, running off after Mistypaw who was eating a mouse. He grabbed a mouse as well and lay by her.

"You two are _so _lucky," came a quiet mew. Mistypaw and Ashpaw looked up to see Wildkit, a five moon old kit. He was extremely anxious about becoming an apprentice and got very upset when cats other than him were made them. "I still have to wait a whole moon!"

"Well, we had to wait just as long," Mistypaw meowed, returning to her food.

"I'm always left behind!" Wildkit cried in dismay, running off back towards the nursery.

Mistypaw and Ashpaw finished their meals quickly then ran off towards the apprentice den. They slipped in and looked around. Duskpaw, a grayish brown tom apprentice, was sitting in the corner with Rosepaw, a she-cat with an almost pink pelt. Both of them were older apprentices and probably would become warriors soon.

"Congratulations," Rosepaw purred.

"Yeah," Duskpaw meowed in agreement.

"Thanks!" Mistypaw purred, grateful for the praise. Ashpaw merely nodded, unsure what to do.

"You'd better get some rest, we usually leave at dawn," Rosepaw advised as Leopardpaw, a black and yellow spotted she-cat apprentice, entered.

"Oh, hello Mistypaw! Hello, Ashpaw!" she mewed in surprise. "I forgot you'd be in here tonight. I'm used to it being just Duskpaw, Rosepaw and myself."

"Understandable," Mistypaw meowed, lying down. Ashpaw followed suit. Leopardpaw lay on the opposite side, closer to Duskpaw and Rosepaw.

"Well, have a nice rest," Leopardpaw said cheerfully, putting her head down and closing her eyes. Rosepaw appeared to be asleep already, but Duskpaw had stood up.

"I'm going on the evening patrol," he explained, exiting the den. Mistypaw put her head on her paws and closed her eyes. Within moments, she was asleep. Ashpaw on the other hand, stayed up. He stared at the entrance, waiting for Duskpaw to return. At around midnight, Duskpaw returned. He seemed unaware that Ashpaw was watching him as he lay by Rosepaw and fell asleep. Ashpaw took one last fleeting look around before surrendering to sleep as well.


	2. Training

"Get up, Ashpaw!" came a hiss in Ashpaw's ear.

"Ungh..." groaned Ashpaw, batting at whatever was talking.

"Come ON you silly sleepy head! Moonfur is waiting for you!" the voice hissed again. At this, Ashpaw jumped to his feet, nearly knocking his sister over.

"What? Oh, sorry," he muttered, looking at Mistypaw apologetically.

"Geez! You're dangerous," Mistypaw said, clearly shaken by almost being knocked over by her brother.

"Well, you would be too if you had a sister wake you up at the crack of dawn..." meowed Ashpaw in a quiet undertone so that Mistypaw couldn't hear him. Unaffected by the unheard comment about her, Mistypaw hit her brother playfully on the side of his head.

"Come on, bro! Let's go!!!" she said, bounding outside. Ashpaw groaned and heaved himself to his feet. He stretched the looked around the den with his bright yellow eyes. It was empty. He ran outside, cursing himself for being such a hard sleeper.

Moonfur was waiting near the center of camp. Oakfur was talking in a harsh tone with Mistypaw, who looked completely unconcerned about what he was saying. Thornfur and Darktail were leading Rosepaw and Duskpaw out of camp. Both were looking extremely bored. Leopardpaw was out of site though. _She probably already left, _Ashpaw told himself, trotting to Moonfur.

"Good morning, Ashpaw," purred Moonfur.

"Good. Sorry if I'm late," Ashpaw said bashfully.

"Perfectly okay. It is your first day and no one is perfect," she replied in a comforting meow.

"Thank you, Moonfur," Ashpaw mewed, grinning at his mentor who smiled warmly back at him. "So what are we doing today?" he asked, excitement beginning to course through him.

"I'll be showing you the territory boundaries," Moonfur said. "Come! It's a long walk so we must start!" She began walking towards the exit of camp, Ashpaw at her heels.

It was well past sunhigh when Moonfur and Ashpaw returned to camp. Ashpaw was extremely tired, and Moonfur looked satisfied with their trip.

"You have done well today, Ashpaw. One day you will make an excellent warrior," Moonfur praised him. Ashpaw purred.

"Thank you, Moonfur," he replied.

"Go and eat, I'm sure you are hungry from our trip," Moonfur told him. Ashpaw didn't hesitate this time. He ran off and took some food and lay down near the apprentice den to eat. Just then Duskpaw came out.

"Oh, hi Ashpaw," he said in surprise. "How was your training session?"

"Great," Ashpaw purred. "Moonfur showed me all around the territory and showed me all the boundaries. She also introduced all the other clan's scents to me."

"Wow, she taught you a lot," Duskpaw mewed in surprise. "On my first day, Darktail just showed me borders. He didn't tell me anything about the other clan's scents and we didn't see any of the territory other than the very edges. I saw all those things a few dawn's later."

"Oh," Ashpaw meowed in surprise.

"Well, I have to run; I'm going out on patrol again!" Duskpaw meowed as he ran towards Darktail, Stormfur, the deputy, and Bluestripe. They obviously were the others going on border patrol. They left a few moments later and the camp seemed to be a lot quieter without them. Most cats were in their dens to stay out of the sun. It was probably the hottest day of the whole green-leaf so far. But that obviously didn't stop Mistypaw from being excited and jumpy when she arrived back at camp soon after.

"Ashpaw!" Mistypaw said excitedly. "Guess what? I caught a mouse!" She held up a large brown mouse, her eyes shining with pride.

"Cool!" Ashpaw said.

"Mistypaw, go put that in the fresh-kill pile," came Oakfur's deep, commanding meow.  
"Ok!" mewed Mistypaw in submission, bringing it over the stock. Then she bounced back over to Oakfur.

"Am I done for the day?" Mistypaw asked.

"Yes," Oakfur meowed. "You are dismissed." Then he stalked away towards the warrior's den. Mistypaw ran back to Ashpaw.

"Isn't he cool? He's like, the most senior warrior of all the senior warriors! He's amazing!" Mistypaw meowed, staring at Oakfur with admiration as he slunk into the large den. "What's Moonfur like?"

"She's... uh..." Ashpaw meowed, trying to describe his mentor to his eagerly waiting sister. "She's pretty cool."

"That is probably the worst description I've ever heard of a cat in my life!" Mistypaw meowed, rolling her eyes at her brother. "Can't you be a little more descriptive?"

Ashpaw frowned. "Well sorry I didn't meet your 'describing criteria' or whatnot," Ashpaw mewed in annoyance.

"Whatever. Oakfur's cool; he's like the best! He's so smart and fast and ..." Mistypaw began listing off traits. Ashpaw rolled his eyes and got to his feet, leaving his sister to talk to air. He ran right into Rosepaw, who scowled at him.  
"Watch where you're going, tiny," she hissed.

"Sorry, Rosepaw," Ashpaw mewed in return.

"Sorry doesn't quite cut it," hissed Rosepaw. "Just watch yourself. 'Kay, tiny?"

"Rosepaw! Be nice!" yowled a voice from somewhere on the other side of camp. It was Moonfur.

Rosepaw jumped. "Oh, sorry Moonfur. Your apprentice is just acting really clumsy," she meowed innocently.

"Oh, yes, well, it's no excuse for being unkind to someone much younger then you. Leave him alone please," Moonfur said.

Rosepaw hung her head and walked off. Moonfur left as well. Ashpaw was left standing there in front of the apprentice den. He stood for a minute before going in and falling asleep.


End file.
